Musings on women and food.

Main Menu

April book club: “The Wilder Life,” by Wendy McClure

Instead of hosting a book club meeting during SXSW — I am thinking about hosting a Feminist Kitchen tweet-up, though. Interested? @me or leave a comment– we’ll meet at 7 p.m. April 10 at Thrice to talk about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

For many of us, Laura Ingalls Wilder represents something within us that’s hard to explain in words and sometimes doesn’t even make logical sense when we try to figure out why that little girl who grew up in the big woods and expansive prairies, in the back of a roaming wagon and a creekside dug-out means so much to us.

Wendy McClure, whose previous book, “I’m Not The New Me” was about weight loss culture, felt this way, too, and she embarked on an adventure into the hows and whys of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author, the fictionalized character that Laura and her daughter, Rose, created and the unique fandom that continues to this day.